The first neon sign in the USA was put up by a Packard dealership in Las Angeles in 1924 but it wasn't until after WW II that the popular art form really took off in the new prosperous decade of the 50's when Motels, Drive In Cinemas, Liquor Stores and Fast Food joints etc got in on the act and started to use them to catch the eye of people as they cruised by in their gleaming new tail-finned chrome V8 Space Age monsters like the gleaming new chromed monsters like the Olds' rocket 88 and the 59 Caddy.

Bright Lights Big City written and recorded by Jimmy Reed and his wife Mary 'Big Mama' Reed in Chicago in 1961reached no 3 in the Billboard R'N'B charts and became an instant Blues classic covered by the emerging Rock groups of the day such as the Rolling Stones and The Animals and became a number one hit in the Country charts for Sonny James in 1971.